“A brilliant history of Montreal’s experience with amalgamation, told by a major participant. It is an erudite, meticulous yet lively narrative about what can happen to any great city when a superior level of government arbitrarily imposes its will.  Written with wit and no small degree of self-criticism, this splendid book is a warning to politicians of all persuasions to heed the hopes and desires of their citizens before, not after, they legislate.” – 2012 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing Jury (Ed Broadbent, Tasha Kheiriddin, and Daniel Poliquin)